DeepSeek's $5.6M Model Defies Altman's $10M AI Startup Claim

Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, previously claimed that AI startups with only $10 million in funding were 'totally hopeless' in competing with OpenAI. However, the emergence of DeepSeek, a Chinese AI company, challenges this assertion. DeepSeek's groundbreaking model, r1, was trained for a mere $5.6 million, proving Altman's statement inaccurate and sending shockwaves through the industry. Altman himself has since praised DeepSeek's achievement, highlighting the rapid pace of AI development and the unexpected disruption from unexpected players.